7/23/2010

OPI Funky Dunkey and Ciaté Talent Scout compared -UPDATE

When Ciaté Paint Pots Talent Scout arrived earlier this week it reminded me of OPI Funky Dunkey from the Shrek Forever After collection (I'll actually go to see the movie soon). But after doing a quick swatch on my right hand I have to say it surpasses 'reminding of'. As I am right handed, my right hand usually is somewhat sloppy since I'm not so good at polishing my nails with my left hand. This time I didn't swatch on my left hand because I wanted to spare my two silk wraps. But on the swatch below I didn't even do such a bad job as usual, considering I thought I'd take it off after swatching. Yay for me right?

As you can see I 'labeled' my fingers with the polishes used on the corresponding nails. I guess the color is a bit more blueish in real life, but other than that the swatch is fairly color accurate. I however can't tell these two polishes apart. I actually had to redo my nails since I couldn't remember which was which when I wanted to apply a second layer! That just shows how similar these colors are, even after only one coat. Above is two coats by the way.

Application wise these are also very similar, I guess the 'biggest' difference is in the brushes, as shown below, and that the Ciaté Paint Pots contain 13.5 ml (0.46 fl oz) and the OPI 15 ml (0.5 fl oz). Even though the OPI brush isn't much bigger than the Ciaté brush.

So after doing the swatches and asking both my mom and boyfriend to tell the differences (they couldn't) I polished my right thumb with Talent Scout and then did my left hand in reverse order (OPI on thumb, middle finger and pinkie, and Ciaté on index finger and ring finger). I didn't use a basecoat or topcoat, since I really can't trust my current topcoat, as explained in my previous post, and I didn't use a basecoat when swatching. I didn't feel like redoing most of my right hand, so I just polished my left hand without a basecoat too. Yeah I'm lazy like that.

Since I couldn't see any color differences, and they are also very similar in application, I'm trying to keep these colors on for a while to test their wear time. Maybe they differ in that.

Personally I'd say dupes for OPI Funky Dunkey and Ciaté Talent Scout. I''ve read about China Glaze Grape Pop and Rescue Beauty Lounge Mismas being really close to OPI and I've seen some comparisons, but in my opinion Ciaté Talent Scout really is a dupe for Funky Dunkey.

Do any of you own both these polishes and agree with me? And do you also think those Ciaté Paint Pots bottles look cute? They 'stack' quite snuggly and you can easily view the colors from above without taking all the bottles out!

UPDATE 07/25/2010

I've worn this manicure for several days now to test the wear time of the polishes. This time there were some actual differences between these two polishes. Ciaté Talent Scout started to show some small chips after one day which got bigger on the following days although they didn't get up to big chunks. OPI Funky Dunkey however only had some tip wear and some tiny chips since yesterday. So this evening I took most of the polishes of to do some owl nail art.

However I have to add that I tested the wear time of these polishes without a topcoat or base coat. So without using them Ciaté Talent Scout will barely last me for a day. Since OPI lasted for almost three days under the same circumstances, plus I like the prowide brush, Funky Dunkey is the 'winner' for me. Not that I won't be buying any Ciaté polishes anymore, the duration could probably be easily stretched with a good base coat and a durable topcoat. And besides, I don't let polishes last very long anyway before I put on another color.